The New Yorker’s John Cassidy profiles Janet Yellen – the woman tipped to become chair of the Federal Reserve when Ben Bernanke’s term ends at the end of January 2014.

The UK’s welfare state has been under fire for some time, with the Conservative-led government arguing that the system is too big, too generous and doesn’t do enough to incentivise work. Those on the political left counter that the government is simply returning to its ideological roots by cutting back on support for the poorest. On Wednesday the Daily Mail’s front page took the national debate to a shrill new level, describing a man convicted of killing his six children as the “vile product of welfare UK”. One blogger contrasted the coverage with the way the Mail covered another tragedy, while Zoe Williams wrote about the danger of incendiary rhetoric. On Thursday the chancellor George Osborne appeared to side with the Mail.

The Turkish government is negotiating with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in an effort to end a conflict that has claimed 35,000 lives in the past three decades, but doubts linger about whether a historic deal is within reach.

If you’ve been using your iPad as a babysitter only to find that your child has managed to rack up a steep bill for a children’s games and apps, never fear – Apple is offering a refund.

The Obama administration is shifting policy on Syrian rebels. It will help with training and “nonlethal assistance” – vehicles, communications equipment and night vision gear.

China’s defence ministry claims that rather than being the perpetrator of hacking incidents, China is the victim: “According to the IP addresses, the Defence Ministry and China Military Online websites were, in 2012, hacked on average from overseas 144,000 times a month, of which attacks from the U.S. accounted for 62.9 percent.”

The World

with Gideon Rachman

Gideon became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections.

His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation